It’s certainly strange. NCAT seems to be saying we won’t invalidate the no-pets by-law because there are no actual pets involved. But if there were pets involved, then we would invalidate it.
This is pretty close to an actual Catch-22, rather then the overly used and misused versions we hear about.
Catch-22, for those who haven’t read the Joseph Heller novel or seen the movie, was that you could get out of military service due to grounds of insanity, but applying to get out of military service proves that you are sane.
In this case, the no-pets by-law stands but only if there are no pets involved, otherwise it would be invalid.